Prophet Pearls #16 – Beshalach (Judges 4:4-5:31)

In this episode of Prophet Pearls, Judges 4:4-5:31, Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson discuss how although not a “military commander” like the other judges, Deborah coolly commands the military in this portion’s reading and then writes a lovely song about it to boot. We learn the context of her years as a judge and prophetess and how her administration fits into the life cycle of ancient Israel.

Word studies include “Maccabee/hammer,” and “Devorah/bee.” The issue of whether Hobab was the father-in-law or brother-in-law of Moses gives a glimpse into the sometimes messy world of the translator. With insight into language, historical context and local geography, we learn answers to the following: Why did Barak insist Deborah go with him? Why did Sisera think he could trust Jael? How did the Lord personally route 900 chariots in the Jezreel valley?

Johnson gives examples of three women currently serving Israel in the spirit of Deborah and Jael by commanding an air force squadron, a combat battalion and a patrol boat off the coast of Gaza. In closing, Gordon encourages listeners to trust in Yehovah and not in man and prayed for victories from heaven in the lives of all who call upon his name.

"Devorah was a prophetess woman... she judged Israel at that time. She used to sit under the date-palm of Devorah... The Children of Israel would come up to her for judgment." Judges 4:4-5

You are listening to Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia: Shalom chaverim shelanu. Bruchim haba’im latochnit, Pninim Mehanevi’im. Shalom, friends. Welcome to the program Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Keith, what does the word “chaverim” mean? Can you please explain to the people?

Keith: It means that you and I are working together, trying to find, with common ground, and what I call iron sharpening the iron, attempt to try to figure out what’s going on with the Bible, and we’ve got Prophet Pearls happening here. You’ve done the intro so let’s get started.

Nehemia: Let’s do it.

Keith: Nehemia, I’ve got to ask you a question. When you were looking at this section, give me your first response. The first thing you thought when you looked at Judges 4.

Nehemia: It says, “And Devorah,” and honestly the first thing that came to mind is, “There are a lot of Devorahs in my life.” It’s a very common Jewish name. It’s funny, there’ll be several different people I know that are named Devorah, or Deborah, or some form of that. So it’s like, wow. There it is. So that’s the first thing that came to my mind.

Keith: So I say we do this in honor of all those Devorahs. How about that? Let’s jump right into it.

Nehemia: And the word Devorah means?

Keith: Well, I think I know that it’s got something to do with a bee.

Nehemia: It means “bee”. Absolutely.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And there’s a very cool connection with the word bee and the Holy of Holies in the Temple, which is “devir” and the place where the bee lives… Now this is interesting because the place where the bee lives in Hebrew isn’t called devir, but that must be where the word “devorah” comes from that, the bee comes from the Holy of Holies, the hive, the devir. That’s the central sanctum of the bee, and hence, at the Temple, as well.

But it’s really interesting, I was actually talking just the other day, I was speaking in Seattle, or in Tacoma, Washington, and somebody was saying to me, “Oh, those vowels, the Masoretes added those, they’re not an original part of the text.” I said, “If you want to ignore the vowels in Hebrew then you take the three letters dalet, bet, resh, “Davar” which is “word.” But then you change the vowels and you could make that same word “devorah,” which means bee. You know, you can add a hey at the end but you don’t have to. With those three letters, you could have “bee,” you could have “dever,” which is “plague.” I was speaking to this Messianic gentleman, and I said, “You Messianics, you say that Yeshua is the davar, the Word of the Lord, and so if you ignore the vowels then maybe he’s the pestilence of the Lord.” I mean it’s ridiculous.

The point is if you ignore the vowels you strip the words of all their significance and meaning to where it could mean the opposite.

Keith: Yes. We had so many different experiences in talking about this, and maybe we can bring them in as we go. But I remember the time that we were in Israel together and we were addressing this issue of the vowels. And I just have to say, one of the things that you really don’t understand until you actually are in the land and you’re actually experiencing this with people, but they’ll see a word that has just the consonants, like the newspaper. You’re reading the newspaper, and there are no vowels there, and you’re like, “Wait, wait. How can they read the newspaper and there are no vowels? There are just consonants.” It’s almost like you can’t explain it. I mean you can explain it, but experiencing it just brings it to a completely different level in people understanding what the traditional pronunciation of a word would be, and knowing, in context, what that word means. It’s just phenomenal.

Nehemia: Obviously, context is extremely important to know whether it’s the pestilence, or the word, or the bee of the Lord. That is important. But if you say, “I’m not going to use vowels.” Okay. So instead of “davar,” it becomes “d’ber,” and “devorah” becomes “d’vber.” Like what?

Keith: You’re throwing me a softball. So when it comes to the name yud hey vav hey, the four letters yud hey vav hey, and all of these different vowel combinations that people use. I just have to be honest with you - there’s no end to how many different vowel combinations people add into the four-letter name of God. That’s just where it gets, for me, absolutely ridiculous.

Nehemia: Yes. One of the things I appreciated in your book His Hallowed Name RevealedAgain, if I remember correctly, you wrote that the people who say that they want to pronounce the name without any vowels, which would be like Y’h’w’h.

Keith: Yes. Y’h’w’h.

Nehemia: You said something like, “Good luck with that.”

Keith: Yes. It really is interesting. I don’t know. I just think the Hebrew language is just, the way it evolved, the way that it lives today, the way that it’s used… I think people, one of the things that I’ve really been pushed by in the last couple of years is trying to give people a chance to interact with it a little bit, piece by piece by piece. And I’m finding that there are just as many people that are interested in finding out what something really does mean as there are people that want to kind of use it for, as I call it, for their own agenda.

But we’re dealing with the 4:4, and I know we only deal with the Prophet Pearls section, but it’s hard for me not to at least if I can…?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Just a little bit of context in Judges before we get started, because this idea that the judges, these people that were raised up to be judges… over a period of time, that person would judge and then the nation would be under that judge for a while, and then the nation would turn and then they would call out to Yehovah, and He would respond and give them another judge. In the first couple of verses, it’s just talking about that and then…

Nehemia: Hello?

Keith: Hello?

Nehemia: Yes, I can hear you. I hear you the whole time.

Keith: See. Skype just quit.

Nehemia: I see. Now, Keith, I know you want to just jump into the story, but I think we should get some context first before we do that. Can we please go back real quick to verse 2?

Keith: Absolutely. Let’s go to verse 2.

Nehemia: Or even verse 1. It says, “And Israel again did evil in the sight of Yehovah, and Ehud met,” Ehud died. He was the judge. “And Yehovah sold them into the hand of Jabin, the king of Canaan, who is the king over Hazor.” Hazor was a major city in northern Israel. “And his general was Sisera, who dwelt at a place called Harosheth Haggoyim.” That’s a real interesting place itself. Verse 3, “And the children of Israel cried out to Yehovah for he had nine hundred iron chariots and he was pressuring the children of Israel strongly for twenty years.” So the context here is Devorah is this judge at a time when Israel is being persecuted by the Canaanites.

Keith: So this cycle that takes place is something we see over and over in Judges, where they’re under a judge for a while and then the judge dies, and they turn away from Yehovah, and then the judge is brought in. It’s a cycle back and forth. And what I thought was kind of interesting about this, and we could go to the specifics and how it shows up in different parts of Judges, but this one is just, boom - Devorah. There she is. It doesn’t say anything. When you read it you understand what the situation is, but if you understand what’s happening in the book, then, obviously, this is now a new - if I can call it - a new reign. It’s this new political deal.

Nehemia: So what you’re saying is, whoever decided on these Prophet portions, in this case, he ripped out the context. The first three verses are really important. Why did he do that? I don’t know. Good question.

Keith: Yes. I don’t know. So let’s get into this.

Nehemia: Let’s talk about this cycle. It’s really interesting. What we have is really a four-stage cycle. So you’ve got the sin, and the sin leads to punishment, which is in the form of foreign oppression. Then the Israelites are being crushed under this foreign oppression, so they cry out. That’s sort of their almost half-baked repentance, it comes from a place of need, not of, “I was thinking intellectually I need to be good.” It was more like, “Oh, man, this hurts. Can you help us, God?” That’s the third stage.

And the fourth stage is the judge rises up and provides salvation, and we’ve had several of those so far, and actually, that pattern is described in the first couple chapters of Judges. We had a number of judges, and then Devorah is really an unusual judge because the other ones judged and were military generals. Devorah, who appears here in 4:4, is not a general, she’s just a judge and a prophetess, which is interesting. I don’t think, if I remember correctly, any of the other judges were described as prophets.

Keith: I can’t believe you’re saying this. I’m going to have an argument with you right here on the show. What are you talking about?

Nehemia: Wait. Hold on a second. Let me go look. Am I wrong about the judges, are they prophets?

Keith: No, while you’re…

Nehemia: No, I’m right. I just checked it. What are you talking about? Who else was a prophet?

Keith: No, you’re right as far as the prophet, but you’re tapping that computer, Nehemia…

Nehemia: Judges 6:8 talks about a prophet. So the first time the word “prophet” appears in the Book of Judges is in reference to Devorah, and she’s the only one who’s described, really, as a judge and a prophet.

Keith: Yes, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about…

Nehemia: So what did you want to disagree with me about?

Keith: But I don’t understand what you’re talking about saying she’s not a commander of an army. What do you mean by that?

Nehemia: Now, can we talk about where she did… It’s interesting - some people will tell you a judge was just a military general or a ruler, but here it actually says that she is judging, and the people would come up to her for judgment in a specific place and a specific location. What do you have in verse 4 where she would do her judgment?

Keith: She says here, verse 5 is what it says for me.

Nehemia: Oh. So read verses 4 and 5.

Keith: “Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim.”

Nehemia: Okay. Go on one more verse.

Keith: “And the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.”

Nehemia: That’s awesome because it’s not even… Like, the same word appears there and they just translate - let me read you what it says. “And Devorah was a prophetess,” or actually, “a woman who is a prophetess.” “She was the wife of Lappidoth, and she was judging Israel at that time. And she dwelt, or she was dwelling, under the date palm of Devorah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountain of Ephraim. And the children of Israel would go up to her for judgment.”

So we have the word judgment twice there. Once is she was judging Israel in verse 4. Then verse 5 is they would come to her for judgment, and where she would do the judging is underneath this tree, under this Tomer, this date tree. I looked at all the translations, and with one or two exceptions, they almost all say that it’s a palm tree, whereas in Hebrew it’s a date tree. Date trees are a type of palm tree, but it’s a more specific term, and date trees are really important in Israel. It’s a land that doesn’t have very many trees, and date trees are very important as part of the environment and part of the ancient economy, especially, even the modern economy. You go down to the Jordan Valley and you see these massive plantations of palm trees, of date trees. So it’s pretty cool.

Keith: Can you do me a favor? While you do this, I want you to check your computer on something, Nehemia. And just in the Book of Judges, you guys, this is amazing. He can tap his computer and context, you know.

Nehemia: Dee do do do.

Keith: But anyway, what I wanted to see is if there’s an example where they use for the judge was leading versus judging. I thought that was interesting. In the NIV, it says…

Nehemia: Oh. So it doesn’t say “lead.” It says, “judge.”

Keith: Yes, it doesn’t say lead. It says she was judging. Yes. So what I was wondering though…

Nehemia: She was judging Israel.

Keith: … in the English version if there is a…

Nehemia: You want me to check the English?

Keith: I wanted to see if there was an example, because I think there’s an agenda here, and I’m going to be really clear about this. I just think when I’m reading in my NIV - and this is going to probably get me in a little bit of trouble, certainly with some folks. But I think it’s sexist that basically with Devorah, the NIV here is saying she was leading. Now, if I really took some time and went a little further, sometimes I like to uncover where there are these sorts of agendas, and like I’ve said before, what I like about the NIV language-wise, in terms of the present English language, it does a phenomenal job of using the present English language. What it does a bad job with is it picks and chooses when it wants to be clear in context or when it wants to be what I call biblically authentic regarding the meaning of a word, and that happens a lot.

So a lot of the people, for example, that would be reading from the NIV - and you probably aren’t aware of this, Nehemia, because you come from a different background - but there’s an issue in Scripture sometimes as it comes to male and female, and regarding how far they’ll go in terms of giving what a word will be in terms of whether its masculine and feminine and its meaning. With Devorah here, when it says that she was leading, it’s obvious as you read the story that that’s the case. But the cycle that we’re talking about is not like she’s some like, “Well, she’s a prophetess. Oh, and by the way, she does a little bit of leading.” No. She is as legitimate a leader here, and even more so regarding adding the issue of the prophet, as any of the other judges.

Nehemia: Yes. I’m not agreeing with you. I don’t think she’s a leader.

Keith: Oh.

Nehemia: I think she’s a judge, she’s a prophetess, and we have this pattern - it’s a pattern throughout the Bible…

Keith: She’s a leader.

Nehemia: Especially in the times of Kings, where you’ve got Isaiah, and Isaiah comes and he’s counseling Hezekiah. But Hezekiah is the leader. Isaiah is not the leader. She’s Isaiah, she’s not Hezekiah.

Keith: And this is why what’s so funny…

Nehemia: She’s not a leader.

Keith: What’s so funny about this, and I’m so glad we’re having this little tension here, is because the story itself as we read it actually is going… I’m going to win this one, Nehemia, I’m actually going to win this one.

Nehemia: You’re not though. Okay. So Judges 3:10 is an interesting example, because there we have the verb “to judge.” It says, “And the spirit of Yehovah was upon him. And he,” literally in Hebrew it says, “vayishpot et Israel,” “and he judged Israel.” In the King James, we have, “And he judged Israel.” What do we have in the NIV? I don’t know, let’s see. The NIV says, “And he became Israel’s judge.” Interesting. So why doesn’t it say, “He led Israel”? So you’re saying this is some politically correct thing? I really don’t know what you’re trying to say.

Keith: Okay, we’ll just keep, like I say, let’s keep…

Nehemia: No, what are you trying to say?

Keith: No, I’m not going to try to say anything. I’m going to let the story say it.

Nehemia: Are you saying that she’s the leader? So we’ve got to talk about prophetesses in the Tanakh.

Keith: Yes, let’s do that.

Nehemia: Do you know who the prophetesses are in the Tanakh?

Keith: I really don’t. Tell me who they are.

Nehemia: There are four.

Keith: I’d like to hear.

Nehemia: So we’ve got three true prophetesses and one false prophetess. I’m referring specifically to people who are called a prophetess, a female prophet. In Hebrew, we have a word for that, there’s “navi” for men, and “neviah” for women. So there are four people who are neviah. There is Miriam, the sister of Moses, was called a neviah. And then we have… come on you tell me who is... obviously we have Devorah, and who’s the other one? She’s the least known one.

Keith: She’s probably the least known one. I don’t know. Tell me.

Nehemia: Yes. So she’s Huldah.

Keith: Ah, Huldah.

Nehemia: In the time of King Josiah, you know that story, come on. The fourth one is really unknown. She’s Noadiah, who’s a false prophetess who tries to frighten Nehemiah - that’s me, Nehemiah - she tries to frighten Nehemiah from doing his mission. He mentions all the false prophets, and he mentions her by name. She’s the only one he mentions by name in that context. There’s another one he mentions by name who’s a man.

But in the context… can I actually read that? It’s pretty cool. It’s in, let’s see, Nehemiah chapter 6 verse 14. I’m going to read the NIV, just because you like to mess with it. It says, “Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophetess Noadiah,” which in Hebrew is Noa’dya, “and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.” So she’s the only one who is mentioned in that prayer. It’s like Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who are trying to intimidate me. Isn’t that interesting?

Keith: You know what I love about her name, about that very little-known prophet? Is the root of her name. It’s funny because I was - this was a long time ago - I was dealing with this issue of God’s time. And in looking for this issue of where we have the issue and understanding His mo’ed.

Nehemia: For the people who don’t know what the mo’ed is…

Keith: Yes. The mo’ed is the appointed time that God has.

Nehemia: Right.

Keith: So I was going through all of the different words and all the different things, and actually, her name came up. And I really wasn’t aware of who she was or whatever, but I thought it was just…

Nehemia: And there’s the end of the program.

Keith: What happened?

Nehemia: No, keep going.

Keith: Oh, boy.

Nehemia: You were cut off.

Keith: Are you scaring me? Let me tell you…

Nehemia: No. You were cut off. You were saying something and we missed it.

Keith: Okay. So folks, let me just tell you what’s happening here. We are now on our fourth attempt.

Nehemia: Maybe the fifth.

Keith: Maybe the fifth attempt to record this program, and so I’m really on… it’s like really touchy. I can’t just simply think about the passage, I’m also thinking, “Is he hearing me? Are we recording? Are we cut off again?” And this attempt right now is probably our last attempt for this program.

Nehemia: I think Noadiah is coming against us and she’s trying to stop us from meeting.

Keith: She doesn’t want us to meet.

Nehemia: Because the root of mo’ed is “appointed time,” but the literal root is “to meet.” And it’s a time that you could meet someone, or it could be a place that you could meet someone. So we have the Tent of Meeting, “ohel mo’ed.” That was a Word of the Week, wasn’t it? We also have mo’ed is an appointed time, a time of mo’ed, and that’s actually really relevant for the whole story of Nehemiah… This is off the…

We’re never going to get to do Nehemiah in the Prophet Pearls, so I’m going to steal a few minutes from Prophet Pearls and do Nehemiah 6, just a couple verses. So verse 10 says, “Then I visited…” because that prophetess is there. Verse 10 says, “Then I visited Shemaiah son of Delaiah son of Mehetabel when he was housebound, and he said,” this is another prophet. He’s a false prophet named Shemaiah, “Let us meet in the House of God,” and there it says “niva’ed,” “Let us mo’ed in the house of Yehovah, in the house of God. And let us shut the doors of the sanctuary, for they are coming to kill you, by night they are coming to kill you. I replied, ‘Will a man like me take flight? Besides,’” this is what Nehemiah says, “who such as I can go into the sanctuary and live? I will not go in.” And that’s because only the priests were allowed to go into the inner sanctuary, not Nehemiah - he wasn’t the priest. And so he’s saying, “I can’t even go in there, what are you talking about? I’m not going to go in there for refuge.”

He says in verse 12, “Then I realized that it was not God who sent him, but that he uttered that prophecy about me — Tobiah and Sanballat having hired him — because he was a hireling, that I might be intimidated and act thus and commit a sin, and so provide them a scandal with which to reproach me.” In other words, this was a trick to get him to go into the part of the Temple he was not allowed to go in, only Levites were allowed to go into a certain section, and beyond that, only the Kohanim, and beyond that, only the high priest, the high Kohen. They were trying to trick him saying, “Look, if you go in there then the bad guys, coming to kill you, won’t kill you.” And he was a false prophet. Isn’t that amazing? The false prophet comes and tells him to do something contrary to the Torah, and he says, “No, I’m going to follow the Torah.” Then he figures out, “Oh, this guy wasn’t even a true prophet because a true prophet wouldn’t tell me to violate the Torah.”

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: Then in the next verse he says, ““O my God, remember against Tobiah and Sanballat these deeds of theirs, and against Noadiah the prophetess, and against the other prophets that they wished to intimidate me!” So isn’t that cool? That’s the context here of the fourth prophetess in the Tanakh. Of course, in the New Testament, in your book, Keith, you’ve got a prophetess. Do you remember her?

Keith: Oh boy, tell me about her, Nehemia. Do you even know?

Nehemia: No, there’s a woman named Anna in the New Testament. But we’ll leave that for a discussion of the Gospel of Luke. Let’s go back to Judges chapter 4.

Keith: Okay, Judges chapter 4. So it says here the Israelites came to her. So let me slow down here. Is it the Israelites came out to the area around the tree where maybe she was? No, to her. They actually came to her to have their disputes decided. In other words, she is the judge. “And she sent for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedeshnaphtali, and said to him…” So she’s now sending for the commander of the army, and the commander of the army probably has a choice. I mean, why should I come if she sends? Because she’s the prophet. Right, Nehemia? She’s the prophet. Is that right?

Nehemia: I mean… what are you asking? She’s the judge. She’s not just the prophet. She’s the judge.

Keith: She’s the prophet and she’s the judge.

Nehemia: I mean you could call that a ruler. Okay. I’ll accept that.

Keith: She’s running the show. She’s in charge. And so she calls the commander to come, and then she says, “The LORD, Yehovah, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go and take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali,’” and you know… it says here, “and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor.” And so she’s telling him now… Can I paint the picture here? I want to be really clear about this. I want to paint the picture.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: So could…

Nehemia: So is this Golda Meir? Is that what you’re saying?

Keith: This is better than Golda Meir.

Nehemia: Margaret Thatcher?

Keith: No, it’s this bigger than Margaret Thatcher.

Nehemia: Hillary Clinton?

Keith: No. So here he’s out doing his thing and then the phone call comes, the message comes, whatever you want to call it, Devorah’s calling. And what does he do? He drops everything he does, he goes to her, and she’s got a word from Yehovah. Now, here’s what I think is so interesting about this passage, and I really couldn’t… I have to tell you. I mean I want to do Bible trivia with you here and just see if you’d win the Bible trivia game. You probably will.

Nehemia: Nothing in the Bible is trivial to me.

Keith: Amen. They’re all the top 50 verses. So it says here…

Nehemia: You can’t make fun of that.

Keith: It says here, “Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor.” Now, first thing, can I slow down for… Hey all you ladies out there, let me just talk to the ladies for a second. She’s telling him now, as the leader and the commander of the army, how many…?

Nehemia: See that’s where we’re disagreeing. I would say she’s a political leader, perhaps. Maybe. I’ll agree with that…

Keith: I’m not finished.

Nehemia: But she’s not a military leader. Beseder.

Keith: She’s the military leader. And she tells him how many men to take, what to do, where to go, how to do it, and she gives him a word from Yehovah. And this wouldn’t go over well in some of the denominations that are presently a part of… over on this side of the world, Nehemia, because women don’t get a chance to be in leadership positions. And they do a lot with the gymnastics regarding women’s leadership, etc. I could talk about that for the entire…

Nehemia: Are you talking about in China? What do you mean, “this part of the world”?

Keith: No, I’m sorry. What I meant is my tradition, where I come from, with women.

Nehemia: Oh.

Keith: Yes. And it says here that she tells him exactly how many men to take. She said, don’t take 5,000, don’t take 12, take 10. And then she says, “I will,” and she’s speaking what Yehovah says, “I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’” And that could have been the end of the story.

But then, this is where the rubber meets the road, the next verse. I’d like you to read it in the JPS or the Hebrew - maybe there’s some hidden issue here. Can you read the next verse and give me your best translation? And by the way, Nehemia, I really love it when you do translate directly from the Hebrew. I have to tell a story before you do the next verse. Ladies and gentlemen, when I first met Nehemia, we had this issue, this crisis. The crisis was we were in the Old City of Jerusalem. This was, I don’t know how many years ago, this was in 2002. We’re in the old city of Jerusalem. And we’re walking around, and I’m there on my second trip to Israel. But my first one was really in 1986 or something as newly involved in the church, and I went on a regular tour and did all things to all the traditional sites you’re supposed to go to.

Well, on this particular trip I’m there, I meet Nehemia, and he’s from the Hebrew University, and he’s going to take me on a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem and some areas right around there. So I meet him and we’re talking, you know, this is after we’ve had our interaction, for those who don’t know, where he saw the Torah scroll. I don’t want to get into that. But the next day we’re meeting, we’re talking, and we’re walking along the Old City of Jerusalem. And then we have Bible talk like we’re doing now. You know, it was chavruta, and I would say to him, “Well, such and such verse says,” because for folks who don’t know, I have my Master’s degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I graduated cum laude. I’m supposed to know this book inside and out. And so I’m with this guy, Nehemia Gordon, who’s walking around with these funny pants on and this funny looking hat, and I’m like, “I can’t take this guy serious.” So I decided to challenge him. So I’d bring up a verse, and I’d say to the verse, “Well, you know it says in 1 Samuel chapter 6 verse such-and-such.” He says, “Well, let’s just open and see what that says.” I was getting offended by this guy, because every time I’d bring up the Bible, he wouldn’t just respond, he wants to open the book. So he would sit down and he’d open his book and I’d open my book, and the books looked similar. Mine was kind of worn and his was kind of worn, and I’d open up the book, and then he’d read, and it wouldn’t be exactly what was in my NIV. And eventually, I peeked over his shoulder - and this is where the crisis came. This is why we’re doing Prophet Pearls. I peek over… can I continue, Nehemia? Do you want to…?

Nehemia: Bevakasha.

Keith: Thank you. I peek over his shoulder and in his book, that looked just like my book, which was worn, it was like leathery, it was all in Hebrew. But he never one time mentioned the Hebrew word. He only was speaking in English. This was a crisis.

Nehemia: Why was it a crisis? It wasn’t a crisis for me.

Keith: It was a crisis for me because I’m looking at the English, he’s telling me it’s saying something else based on his translation. And you know what could have happened right then? This is really funny, I’ve never said it this way. What could have happened right then is you could have become my sage. You could have become my rabbi, Nehemia. I would go to you with all the questions and you’d give me all the answers, and I would never check it for myself.

But the crisis came that I said, if Nehemia is reading directly from Hebrew and translating, it seems to me that if the Bible is that important to me, I need to learn to be able to do that. And again, why this has been so wonderful in doing this with you, is that I can say to you, “Can you read the verse?” and what you do is you’ll give us the English translation. Now, to be fair, there are times where you’re making translation decisions, obviously, because the English language…

Nehemia: I think always by definition I’m making translation decisions.

Keith: You’re making translation decisions, but the great…

Nehemia: Every time I translate the word davar as “word” versus “thing,” versus “matter,” that’s a translation decision, absolutely.

Keith: Absolutely. But here’s what I do like, what I’d like for people to do is when we do have a translation or you’re bringing out a translation, I want people to check it for themselves. Now, again, people may not want to go through the same process that I had to go through. I had to go through a whole, I don’t know, Nehemia Gordon make-you-feel-like-a-dummy school. But what was great about it is that we would go step by step by step.

Nehemia: Did you feel smart in the end when you passed the test?

Keith: Yes. In this passage, I’m going to get you. But anyway, listen. Here’s the point. Now, for this verse, could you now read the verse? We’ve got the context. Could you give us the translation?

Nehemia: What verse are we in, verse 8? After that long introduction, I don’t even know what verse we’re in.

Nehemia: I’m going to just translate it from Hebrew. It says, “And Barak said to her, ‘If you go with me, I will go, and if you will not go with me, I will not go.’”

Keith: Stop.

Nehemia: “And she said, ‘I will surely…’”

Keith: Stop. Stop.

Nehemia: Wait?

Keith: Now, hold on. So Barak now is the head of the military. He’s big, he’s large, and he’s in charge. He’s the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: So first of all, she calls him, he comes, she tells him the instruction, he says it, and then here comes the crisis moment. The crisis moment is when the big military commander says, “I’m not going without you.” Am I missing anything there?

Nehemia: Why does he refuse to go without her? It’s because of the 900 iron chariots. He realizes, “I’ve got no chance without you. What are you talking about? You’re speaking the Word of God. I just know how to throw a spear and fire arrows, and they’ve got 900 iron chariots. I need my asset here.” And the point was that if God told him to go, he shouldn’t have needed this person to be a symbol of God. God should have been enough for him.

Keith: Okay. Well, here’s how she…

Nehemia: So verse 9…

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: “And she said…” or do you want to read it? I’ll read it, verse 9...

Keith: I want to give verse 9 folks, because I think this, again, and I love the Bible. I love this. You know, if you read the Bible sometimes it doesn’t matter about the Hebrew, the Greek, the Aramaic, the Arabic, the German… all this stuff. Sometimes it’s just kind of clear. So no matter what translation you’re looking in, there’s this issue. The leader calls the commander, gives him instructions, the commander says, “I ain’t going nowhere without you. I need your help. Your backup, your blessing, your whatever it is that you are. I’m not going into war without you.” And then she says, “I will go with you. But…” maybe there’s a different word there?

Nehemia: Let me translate that, but yes.

Keith: Okay. “But because of the way you were going about this.” What do you mean by that? Maybe there’s something there. What does it say, Nehemia? Translate that section.

Nehemia: “And she said, ‘I will surely go with you but because you…’” “lo tihiyeh tifertecha al haderech asher ata holech.” “Your glory will not be according to the way which you go.”

Keith: Come on.

Nehemia: Meaning militarily. “But in the hand of a woman, Yehovah will deliver,” or literally, “sell Sisera.” Yes. So she’s saying you’re not...

Keith: I love this.

Nehemia: Wait. Give your interpretation. Go ahead.

Keith: So basically, she’s saying, “Listen, all right, you were going to go, you have been put in the hall of fame of military leaders for this big battle, but because of the way that you’re doing this and because you say you’ve got to have me go with you, it will be into the hand of a woman that this victory will come.” In other words, this situation, in the end, is going to be in the book. In 2014 or 2015, whatever year this is, there will be two guys in Prophet Pearls talking about, not Barak who won the war, but rather, because of the woman - it was the woman’s hand that he handed this victory to. And why was that? Because he said…

And at this point I’m pretty convinced he’s not looking at whether she’s a woman or not. He’s looking at the fact that she’s the prophet, hearing from the word of Yehovah, the instruction is clear, and she’s saying it’s almost like the issue of the ark. “I’m not going into the battle without the presence. I’m not going into battle without the help, with the answer. I’m not going to go do this unless you come with me.” I just have to say, when I read this story, my blood gets… as you can tell, I’m a little fired up, more than I probably should be. But I get fired up about this because I think it’s a really cool story that basically brings to the forefront just how important Devorah was in this situation. So that’s my point.

Nehemia: Yes. I love that you’ve brought the analogy of the ark, because it’s exactly the same sort of thing where they thought, “Well if I have the ark, there’s power in the ark.” The power was never in the ark. The power is in Yehovah, who could be felt through the ark. The power wasn’t in the prophet or prophetess. The power is not in the man. It’s not in the woman. The power is in Yehovah. I mean, let’s go back to what she said. She said, “Yehovah has commanded you.” “God has commanded you through the prophet to go and fight.” So it wasn’t enough, the Word of Yehovah. He felt he needed this person, this human being, to go with him. The Word of Yehovah is so much more powerful than any human being, than any representation.

That’s really what idolatry is, if you think about it. Instead of worshipping Yehovah directly I’m going to put something up in front of me - a big idol, a statue of Yehovah, a golden calf, and say, “This is the god that brought me out of Egypt because it connects me more with it, reminds me of Yehovah, connects me more with Him.” And He said, “Don’t do that.” He said, “Worship Me directly.” And so Barak felt he needed an intermediary, and because of that, his glory, really, his honor and his glory was going to be given to a woman. It wouldn’t be through his military might; it would be through this woman. Now, who’s the woman?

Keith: Yes. So who’s the woman?

Nehemia: Well, so as we’re reading it, we’re supposed to say, “Oh, it’s Devorah who is the woman. It’s Deborah the prophetess.” But of course, it’s not. That’s the inside joke if you read the end of the story. It’s not the woman Devorah. It’s the woman Yael, in whose hands Sisera is delivered.

Keith: Absolutely. So let’s keep reading.

Nehemia: That’s pretty cool. Yes.

Keith: So it says here ten thousand followed him, and then we’re at verse 11. Can you read it in the English version?

Nehemia: In the English version do we read verse 10?

Keith: I’m sorry.

Nehemia: We don’t have to read every verse. We’re not going to finish…

Keith: No, we’re not going to get through this whole thing. Go ahead.

Nehemia: Okay. It’s long, verse 11. Oh, wait we’re in 4:11. Here, this is the JPS. It says as follows. It says, “Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent at Elon-beZaanannim, which is near Kedesh.” You want me to go on?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Well, I’ve got to stop and talk about this. We’ve got this guy who’s the descendant of the father-in-law of Moses. Remember Jethro or Yitro? Then we have this character Hovav who’s mentioned, and then we have another character Reuel. I think we talked about that in the Original Torah Pearls, how according to one source there are seven different names for the same person. It’s not clear that’s really the same person.

Keith: And that’s it.

Nehemia: What’s it?

Keith: And that’s it.

Nehemia: We’ve got this character Heber the Kenite, and he’s a descendant of Hovav the father-in-law of Moses. We talked about, I think in the Original Torah Pearls, I’m sure we talked about how we have Jethro, or Yitro, who’s also called Yeter, and there’s another character Reuel, who is either the same character or a different character, and we have Hovav. And these appear to be different names for Jethro or someone surrounding him, the father-in-law of Moses.

So we’d heard about in the Torah that these relatives of Jethro joined the Israelites a little bit against their will. Then here they’re still there in the land in Judges chapter 4. That’s pretty cool. Hundreds of years later.

Keith: Isn’t that something?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Folks, for those who don’t know, I’m now on level 3 speaking from my mobile phone. This is now the sixth attempt for us to do this.

Nehemia: Are you on the hotspot?

Keith: I’m on a hotspot with no VPN.

Nehemia: All right, let’s try it. This is the third, no?

Keith: You think it’s funny?

Nehemia: It’s like the eighth or ninth time.

Keith: You’ll be solo on this thing and you’ll do an awesome job. Go ahead.

Nehemia: Yes. All right. So let me just pick up from where I left off, which was in verse 11. So we’ve got this character, Heber the Kenite and he’s a descendant of Hovav the father-in-law of Moses. Remember that story back in the Torah where Moses marries the Midianite woman, Tzipora, and her father is Jethro, who’s also called by these different names. We talked about that in the Original Torah Pearls, I believe. Anyway, so they’re still around, they joined the Israelites sort of a little bit against their will, and then they came into the land, and now we hear they’re still around. That’s pretty cool.

Keith: Yes, I do think it is cool. Again, this is where the Bible is so amazing to me, because you’ll hear someone and they’ll say some name and sometimes people jump over the name because they’re like, “I don’t even want to know what the name is.” But isn’t that interesting? You see that name the Kenite and you say, “Oh, okay, wait. That’s, oh!” And then it goes on to say it’s Moses’ brother-in-law. And then you have the whole story of...

Nehemia: So it’s “choten,” which is father-in-law. What they’re trying to do by making it brother-in-law is they’re confused. They’re saying, “Wait, we’ve got Reuel and we’ve got Jethro and we’ve got Hovav. Who are these different people?” So they’re kind of tweaking the Hebrew, and even though it says father-in-law they’re translating it brother-in-law to make it more coherent and not having to deal with these different names, maybe for the same guy. That’s an interesting solution, but it’s not what it says in Hebrew.

So I just want to say one quick thing, and I know we could do a whole teaching on this, and I think I did it one time, on the whole issue of the Rechabites, who are mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. If you look in Chronicles and you follow all the genealogy, they’re from the same family as these Kenites, as Jethro and Hovav. Meaning, these people are living in tents - there’s a reason they’re living in tents. They were never given a portion in the land. They were essentially what the Torah calls sojourners, which means they weren’t from the original twelve tribes. They were part of this mixed multitude that joined Israel. They were a complete part of the Covenant. There was one torah for them and the native-born. But at this point in history, they didn’t get land, so that’s why they’re living in tents. It’s pretty cool, pretty interesting.

Keith: Then verse 14, here comes the commander, the leader, the one who’s in charge, Devorah says to Barak, “‘Go! This is the day that Yehovah has given Sisera into your hands. Has not Yehovah gone ahead of you?’ So Barak went down Mount Tabor followed by ten thousand men.” Ten thousand that she told him to bring. “At Barak’s advance, Yehovah routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned the chariot and fled on foot.” Isn’t it funny that basically, the strength was the chariot? And in the end, he leaves the chariot and he’s running on foot. And it says he pursued him...

Nehemia: Right. Wait. Hold on. We’ve got to talk.

Keith: I’m just getting to the end of...

Nehemia: I know you’re in a hurry.

Keith: I’m not in a hurry. I’m just getting to the end of the last thought, and then you can go back to…

Nehemia: Yes. Go ahead.

Keith: It says, “But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.” Go ahead.

Nehemia: Yes. So what happened? He had nine hundred chariots, you kind of glossed over that, and it’s saying without the chariots he had no power. But what happened to the chariots? Now, chariots, for those who don’t know, and maybe this is obvious - in ancient times, chariots were the tanks of their day, and they were what is called a force multiplier. So you could have nine hundred chariots against ten thousand people. Those ten thousand people don’t have a chance. And besides the chariots, you also have foot soldiers. But those nine hundred chariots, they’re a game changer. So how is it that... what happened? All right, we’ve got to stop here. Can you hear that piano playing?

Keith: No.

Nehemia: No? So I will try to ignore it. My niece is playing the piano. I’ve got to ask her to go stop. Hold on.

Keith: Can you believe he has the little girl stop the piano? I mean she’s beautiful. This is part of the story. She’s playing the piano in the background. Devorah was playing the music in the background for this victory to take place. He goes and tells her to stop. I don’t understand it.

Nehemia: No, this is a record of editing.

Keith: No, no, no. I just told the people I can’t believe he stopped the beautiful music of the little girl in the background. It’s like Devorah’s music.

Nehemia: Can I tell you what my niece’s name is, the one who is playing the piano and distracting? Her name is Yael.

Keith: And you want to stop her from playing?

Nehemia: She drove a peg into my head with that music.

Keith: Time to continue.

Nehemia: Okay. All right.

Keith: You were talking about the iron chariots.

Nehemia: Yes. So the iron chariots - it’s a game changer. So what happened to them? What happened to the iron chariots? We can’t just gloss over that. So what did happen? And we can only figure this out from the poem, from the song of Deborah, which I don’t see how we’re going to have any time to get to. But from the song of Deborah, it turns out that...

Keith: Wait. Before you do it. Ready? Before you do it.

Nehemia: Yes. It’s 5:21.

Nehemia: I want to do something.

Nehemia: Yes, what’s that?

Keith: This is something I want the people to do.

Nehemia: What’s that?

Keith: You just gave a great... this is like a great homework assignment. How do we know what happened to the chariots? You have to read the poem. We need to have people read the poem and see if they can find the answer. This week is golden.

Nehemia: All right. It’s there in the poem.

Keith: It’s in the poem.

Nehemia: It sets the context, and part of the answer is actually hidden by your translation. I don’t know if you realize that, Keith.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: But earlier in the passage it mentions the River Kishon.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: The Kishon is not a river. The Kishon is what we call in Hebrew a “nachal.” In English the word wadi, or actually in Spanish they say arroyo. A nachal, or an arroyo, or a wadi is a channel that drains out from the mountain. It’s also referred to sometimes as a seasonal creek. So they might be there next to Nachal Kishon, or perhaps actually in a section of Nachal Kishon, and it’s completely dry, and their chariots are very effective. But out of nowhere, suddenly, the nachal fills with water in what’s called a flash flood, and in this case, apparently, overflowed its banks and made the chariots ineffective. It could have been something as simple as... I mean, it says they were washed away.

To this day you have this situation where people will be in these nachals, especially in southern Israel, but anywhere, actually, it happens. They’ll be driving in a 4X4 jeep or something like that, and the whole thing will just get washed away and they’re killed, a couple of people every year are killed in Israel by these flash floods. It was enough to wipe out the 900 chariots of Sisera and left him fleeing. So, yes the answer – wait, so didn’t I just give the answer? So I gave the answer.

Keith: I’d love for you to be my professor at school where we’re about to take a test and you say, “Read chapter 4...”

Nehemia: It’s 5:21, now I’m going to read it.

Keith: No, “everyone read chapter 4 to get the answer. I’m not going to give it to you. Now, let me tell you what the answer is.”

Nehemia: So it says, “The River Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the River Kishon.” In Hebrew, it’s not a river, it’s Nachal Kishon swept them away. This ancient river nachal Kishon. “O my soul, you have trodden down strength.” So it crushed them, this nachal destroyed them. It’s an amazing story there. It reminds me of a different story of David, which we don’t have time to get to about Baal-Perazim, it’s in my book Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence, where there’s another situation probably with a nachal and a flash flood. I love this story. I’m sorry. It’s great. So this force of nature from Yehovah came and changed the balance of battle.

Keith: Isn’t it something is that you really do... and we started this thing some time ago, I used to say to these people these two words: keep reading, keep reading, keep reading. Well, it’s become a shtick where you keep reading. If you don’t keep reading and you just read that, you are kind of stuck. There are sometimes where you can keep reading and not get an answer. I think this is just phenomenal that the poem, the song that we’re not going to get a chance to go to, but the people are going to go to and get a chance to see it, but that the song gives us the answer. That is so cool. Yes, that’s so cool.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: You talked about your book, Nehemia. You said there’s something in your book about David. What book are you talking about? You wrote another book?

Nehemia:Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence.

Keith: Wait. There’s our book, A Prayer to Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord’s Prayer. That’s the book. What other book are you talking about?

Nehemia: No. So I have the books The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus, A Prayer to Our Father, and Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. Those are the three main books I’ve written so far. In Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence, I talk about how there’s this battle, and “Yehovah burst forth upon the Philistines,” it says, and it’s describing water bursting forth like a flash flood. So when David used that metaphor, he was probably also thinking of this instance that took place where the water exploded upon the chariots of the Canaanites.

Keith: Wait. So you write books and what else do you do? Like what do you do, Nehemia? What’s your ministry? You keep talking about...

Nehemia: So...

Keith: No, just tell me what your ministry is. What is your ministry, what do you?

Nehemia: So I’ve got my ministry it’s called... This is the Ministry Minute. You don’t like us using that word, but it is the Ministry Minute. So my ministry is Makor Hebrew foundation, and my website is nehemiaswall.com. I write books. I do all kinds of audio teachings and podcasts and I go around speaking. Actually, we’re pre-recording this, just the other day I was speaking in Tacoma, Washington. It was a real blessing. I came here really to Seattle, Washington, to visit my sister and my mother, who is visiting from Israel.

Keith: And your niece, who plays the piano that you make her nuts.

Nehemia: And my niece Yael, who drives pegs into men’s heads and plays the piano. While I was coming here, I remembered that a little over a year ago I spoke at this place in a place called Enumclaw. Enumclaw, Washington, which actually was like a really last-minute thing. It was in someone’s living room. And I was really blessed because when I left that place, they gave me this letter. Can I just read you the letter? I’m not going to read the whole thing because we’re running out of time. But they wrote this letter, and it said in Hebrew “Todah rabah,” and then in English, “Thank you.” And it says, “To Nehemia Gordon, we the undersigned want to officially thank you for the numerous contributions you have made to boost our faith in the Torah of Yehovah and the Yehovah of the Torah.” Which I thought was really a beautiful thing. And it goes on. It’s the five different things that they’re thankful that I shared with them and have worked on. Some things I shared with them individually and some things that I’ve just worked on for years and very few people ever say thank you. It was a real blessing and they all signed it, everyone at this thing.

But when I found out that I was coming here to Washington, I decided to write them an email and say, “Hey, I want to get together with you guys.” So they end up setting up this whole big event actually at a church over in Tacoma. So it started out in someone’s living room and ended up speaking to this large group of people in a church. It really was a blessing to me. That’s the kind of thing I do in my ministry. This kind of thing and that kind of thing, and it’s a real blessing.

So the other thing I want to talk about...

Keith: When you say Ministry Minute, I’m going to cut you off because it’s Ministry Minute. But if you just talk about your ministry you can talk as long as you want.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: No, keep going.

Nehemia: Minute is a relative thing. We’re using the Hebrew word for “minute,” which is longer. It’s the Jewish minute. So the other thing I want to ask people to do is go over to iTunes - three things I just want to drive home every time in iTunes: subscribe, rate, and review. Subscribe so that you’ll get the program every week. It’ll automatically download to you the Prophet Pearls, the Original Torah Pearls, other audio teachings I’ve done. And rate and review, that allows us to get this in front of other people. There’s my Ministry Minute.

Keith: Awesome. Well, I want to say really, folks, in all seriousness… we’re at sometime in January here. We’re not sure, and I have to say for myself, I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to continue as for the technology ends up being this big of a challenge.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: We set aside about an hour, and if it ends up taking two hours to do this, how that relates to me is that I’m over here actually in Shanghai, and we have in 2015 determined for the last couple of years we added the word “International” to the name BFA, Biblical Foundations Academy International, and we didn’t do it for marketing purposes. We did it because we really wanted to share the Word of God with as many people, as many different places around the world as possible. At the end of this calendar year of 2014, now it’s 2015, as you’re listening to this, hopefully, if this one ever gets up, with about 20 edits, there’s actually a bulletin that we created that gives you a really good picture of what’s happened over the last year. It’s called the BFA Bulletin. In that bulletin, it’s very high quality, it’s a PDF that will allow you to go, and you’ll be able to view it and download it. That’ll give you a really good picture of what’s happening with the BFA.

But as I’m over in this part of the world, I’m using this sort of as a base to go to some other places that it would be a lot more difficult, a lot more expensive, if I were in the United States. For example, last night I was having a conversation - and this is a real controversy, people think it’s not a good idea - but I’ve been in about a year-long conversation with these people in Pakistan about going and sharing - they’ve got a group of people that love God’s time, His Torah, His word, His name, and they’re in an area where their fellowship is growing. They’ve asked me over and over and over again to come. So last night, I have to tell you, Nehemia, I was looking just to see what it would cost, and the price is half of what it would cost if it was in the United States. So that may or not happen.

There’s an invitation to Africa. Just came from the Philippines. Actually, Nehemia and I are talking about the possibility of Norway in the spring, and there are other places. Not to mention that we have a really wonderful opportunity here in China with our book A Prayer to Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord’s Prayer, which has been picked up by the Lutheran church, and they’re going to be getting that out. So I may be spending some time helping to do that. But basically, this part of the world has its blessings and its difficulties. The difficulty is I’m behind the Iron Curtain I call it, what I should call the Firewall of China, the Great Firewall of China as Nehemia experienced.

Nehemia: It’s the Bamboo Curtain.

Keith: Yes. And the thing that’s really difficult about it is that you’ve got over a billion people here. I’m in a city that has just about… you can’t imagine how many different people from different nations that are here. It’s populous - 26 million people that are in the city of Shanghai. I get a chance to meet people all the time that I’m able to share with and speak with. I’m here supporting my wife, who is doing a really amazing thing with her job right now, but I’m able to use this as a base to go to other places, both the Middle East and the Far East.

I have to say, by the time this program comes out, we’ll be able to talk about something that’s happening in Israel right now regarding some things that we did with the BFA, and that’s in communication right now. I’ll find out soon about that. Hopefully, our next show, if we have one, I’ll be able to announce that. But in all of that, we’re trying to inspire people around the world to build a biblical foundation for their faith.

So your way of supporting us is one, go to bfainternational.com, you’ll see everything that we’re doing. Most of what we’re doing, you’re seeing there, you can just watch, you don’t have to register. But if you register as a free member, you get to the next level, where you can download PDFs and study guides, Scripture Bytes, all sorts of things. And then finally, the Premium Content Library, which we’ve thrown open the doors of the library, made it free for a seven-day trial, where you can actually see what’s in there. But if you do decide to stay there, it’s going to actually help us in producing like three or four more major things in 2015, that are going to continue to reach people around the world.

So I’m really excited. The BFA Bulletin is going to give you a picture of what we have done. Right now Prophet Pearls is just one of the things that I’m just committed to. But again, the technology, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. So what I have to say to you, Nehemia, you’ve been really patient. This show alone we’ve done, I think, seven different tries.

Nehemia: At least.

Keith: If this one gets up, and we continue to go forward, that’s awesome. Anyway, bfainternational.com. It’s pretty easy once you get there to see how you can be supportive, and hopefully, people will do that. Let’s keep reading.

Nehemia: Well, I have to do one little statement about the context here, which you kind of skipped. I think you were distracted by all the disconnects and technological challenges.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: So this battle is taking place in a very strategic location in Israel. You’ve got these mountains in central Israel, and then you have these mountains in the north and the Galilee. Between those two mountain ranges, you have what’s called the Jezreel Valley. That is the central international highway in ancient times, and even in modern times, between the Mediterranean coast and the central part of the Middle East. Meaning, to get to all of the central markets in the Middle East, you have to pass the Jezreel Valley.

So there are all of these great battles that took place there. The New Testament talks about Armageddon, which is the battle of Megiddo. When the British conquered Israel in 1917 from the Turks, it was the battle of Megiddo. There was a battle of Megiddo that took place in the second millennium BCE between the Hittites and the Egyptians. There are all these battles of Megiddo that took place in the Jezreel Valley. Here it mentions Megiddo sort of in passing, and nachal Kishon is not far from Megiddo - it’s in that same area in that same valley. This is all within an area of 10 or 15 miles. It’s a very tight area where many major battles have taken place and will continue to take place, and that’s where this is happening.

Keith: Will continue to take place.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Okay. And so basically after this thing happens with the nachal, he runs on foot, and he fled on foot in the tent of Yael.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And now again, your niece’s name is Yael, right?

Nehemia: Yael, yes.

Keith: Yes. So she’s the wife of Heber the Kenite, “because there were friendly relations between the king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.” And then it says in verse 18, “Yael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.’ So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him.” This is really interesting. And he says, “I’m thirsty,” Stop me if you need to, “‘Please give me some water.’ She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. ‘Stand in the doorway of the tent,’ he told her. ‘If someone comes by and asks you, Is anyone in here? Say, No.’ But Yael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg,” and I think this is one of the most graphic... this one is almost as bad as the one where the left-handed judge put the sword into the belly of the… deal, and the fat went over the belt. You remember that one?

Nehemia: You mean Jephthah, yes. Wasn’t that Jephthah?

Keith: Jephthah. And it says, “And she drove the peg through his temple…”

Nehemia: Oh, no, that was Ehud. Sorry. Yes, Ehud.

Keith: Ehud. That was Ehud. It says, “and as she went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted, she drove the peg through his temple into the ground.” Surely it says something else in the Hebrew. Is it really that graphic, Nehemia?

Nehemia: Yes, it’s clear. She drove it in. She hammered it in. It actually says “hammered.”

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: So this guy is laying there and she went and put a peg through his temple.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: “Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Yael went out to meet him. ‘Come,’ she said, ‘I will show you the man you’re looking for.’ So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple,” and then the last word it says, “dead.” There’s just no question.

Nehemia: And he died.

Keith: And he died.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Now, read the last verse before we get to the poem, because I don’t think we’re going to get to the poem. I have something I want to do some Bible trivia. Can you read the last verse and give me some... I want to do some Bible trivia here. Okay?

Nehemia: Okay. Are you talking about verse 24, you want?

Keith: Yes, 23.

Nehemia: 23?

Keith: Well, 23 and 24. Can you do 23 and 24?

Nehemia: 23, “And God…”

Keith: Let me say before you read it. Folks here’s what we’re going to do, this has been by far the most difficult recording program we’ve ever done. Seven, I think I count seven different stops and starts, so we don’t know how the editor is going to do this. I didn’t even get to mention the fact that we’ve got people who sponsor each of the Prophet Pearls. And the folks that are sponsoring this particular episode are calling themselves the Maccabees. These are people who want to do this show in honor of the Maccabees, that basically went in and battled the larger Greek army, and as a result of that, they rededicated the altar. For Hanukkah, we discussed that in the last couple of weeks. These folks, we want to say thank you to them. They’re calling themselves the Maccabees. They’re sponsoring this one, and I’ll just tell you, what they’re sponsoring this for what’s probably going to be the cost of about three sponsors just for the editing time that it’s going to take to try to finish it.

We want to thank the Maccabees, we’ll hear from them later that they’ve sponsored some other of our episodes. And all of the folks that have sponsored Prophet Pearls, it really is not a small thing for what we’re trying to do, in coordinating this around the world, and editors, and internet, and phones… and the list goes on and on. So thank you to them.

Now, Nehemia, before you read these last two verses, can we agree? The poem, we want people to read it.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Find the verse that explains what you already told them, but find it for themselves, and see what else they can see in this poem, that I think is pretty interesting. And then we’ll do Bible trivia. Go ahead with the last verse.

Nehemia: We’ve got to talk about… you brought up the Maccabees, we’ve got to talk about that, because what does Maccabee mean?

Keith: Every time I bring something up, he says we’ve got to talk about that.

Nehemia: Because what does Maccabee mean?

Keith: No, go ahead tell us.

Nehemia: Maccabee was the title of Judah. He was called Yehuda HaMaccabi, from the word makevet. Makevet is hammer, because he fought like a war hammer. In verse 21 of Judges 4 it says, “And Yael, the wife of Heber, took the peg of the tent and she put the hammer, the makevet, in her hand and she came to him in quiet, or in secret, and she drove the peg into his temple and he fell down to the ground, or he sunk to the ground.” So we have there the word makevet, hammer, and this was sponsored by the Maccabees. You didn’t want me to talk about that? Are you kidding me?

Keith: I love it. I love it. I love it.

Nehemia: I wonder if Judah wasn’t inspired by Yael to call himself Maccabee, because there was the woman who had… you know, he was weak, he was a farmer, and he says, “What do I have? I’ve got a hammer, that’s all I got. I’m going to use the hammer and I’m going to win.” And he did. First through the power of Yehovah. And verse 23 makes that clear, it says, “And God subjugated Yabin the king of Canaan on that day before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel went continually going and hard upon Yabin the king of Canaan until they had cut off Yabin the king of Canaan.” I’ve got to really quickly mention Psalm 83 verse 10, in the English, it is verse 9, where it says, “Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Yabin, at the brook of Kishon.” Which is Nachal Kishon. So that’s a reference here to this and a bunch of other historical events in Psalm 83.

Keith: Well, here’s what I’d like to do. Folks, we’re going to ask you to read through chapter 5, which chapter 5, the entire chapter 5, is the actual song, the poem, the song that they sing. I think it’s interesting in 5 verse 1, where it says, “On that day,” and it doesn’t say “Barak son of,” it says, “Deborah” first, and then, it says “Barak”. So she’s first here, then him, and then they sing this song, which I think is really… it would do you well to read that. But I have some trivia, Nehemia.

Nehemia: What’s trivia?

Keith: I want to ask you a question. You’re here in Israel, and I noticed something - one of the things I noticed...

Nehemia: Not in Israel right now. I’m in Seattle, but yes.

Keith: Well, you’re actually in Seattle. But you lived in Chicago, you grew up in Chicago, and then you lived in Israel for, I think, you said 20 years or something like that?

Nehemia: 20 years altogether, yes.

Keith: Isn’t it amazing, one of the things that I think that is so cool is the way that the people of Israel, men and women, young men and young women, go into the army. Whenever I’m there, I’m always sort of stopped by this whole issue of the army, and I’ve watched the deal where they bring the Bible and then they’ve got their gun and they go into the army and they do this whole ceremony in front of the Western Wall. It’s just amazing. But one of the things that I think is really amazing is the way that women are used in the army as men are. One of the things that’s happened this year that’s really cool, have you ever heard of… Let me give you a name. Here’s a name: Major Oshrat Bachar. Have you ever heard that name, Nehemia?

Nehemia: Never heard of her.

Keith: Have you ever heard of Captain Or Cohen?

Nehemia: No, never heard of her.

Keith: You haven’t heard of her. Have you ever heard of Major Gal? You probably haven’t heard of her.

Nehemia: No. Who is Major Gal? You’re not giving me the last name. Yes, but no I haven’t heard of her.

Keith: They won’t give the last name on purpose.

Nehemia: I don’t know who that is.

Keith: The last name has not been disclosed. Why? Because this person is for the first time in history serving, in the history of the Israel Air Force, a woman has been named deputy commander of an operational squadron. Her name is Major Gal, whose last name was not disclosed. And she - what I love about this - she serves as second in command of the “Nachshon” Squadron. “Nachshon,” I love this.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Anyway, she’s serving there. That’s the first time in history. But here’s a second one - for the first time, a woman is to lead a combat battalion in the Israel Defense Forces, Major Oshrat Bachar has been assigned to the “Eitam” Field Intelligence Battalion in the southern command. This is a really big deal because this is a combat unit. But the one that really caught my attention in 2014 is Captain Or Cohen to become deputy commander of, guess what the name of her patrol boat is?

Nehemia: Yael?

Keith: Devorah.

Nehemia: Oh, okay.

Keith: No, this is amazing. The name of her boat is Devorah. She’s going to be in the area of Gaza commanding this boat, and she says that, “My life’s dream is coming true.” So here you’ve got the first time in history a woman for the Israeli Air Force; first time for a woman in a combat battalion; first time for a woman in the navy. I say it’s not the first time. The first time was Devorah who was the one in this story who was the commander, the leader, the one in charge. She was running the show. She set the stage for these other women who are doing this, and I think it’s cool in Israel how they say that women are used at just a bunch of different levels. This is not something where they’re off behind the walls and doing something where they’re not involved in actual combat - these are women that are out on the front lines of the Israel Defense Force army, navy, and air force, and they’re leading the charge. As I was reading these articles about what was being said about them, the kind of character, and the way that these women are doing… I believe these women are serving in the spirit of Devorah, the judge, the prophet, and the one who led the charge. I say, again, I’m going to argue this. She was leading the whole thing. And then you’ve got Yael who wasn’t afraid to put a tent peg into the head of the king. So you’ve got two women in this story that I think just give honor to women that are in battle, and these women are showing that message then, and of course, we say that Prophet Pearls is what happened in the past, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And today, right now, 2014, we’re in 2015, three different women doing something that they say is the first time in history. I say it’s the second time in history. The first time in history where the woman led the charge in a battle is Devorah, the one that we just got through talking about. So that was my biblical trivia.

Nehemia: I don’t know what section you read in Judges, but okay.

Keith: Yes, ladies are running the show here.

Nehemia: I have to say a couple more things, I think these are important. So one is, why did Sisera go to Yael? Let’s be honest, he underestimated her. He thought that she was going to be loyal to him because there was this peace treaty or some kind of agreement between her clan and the Canaanites, and probably what made them trusting was they said, “You know what? She’s not a descendant from Jacob, she’s a Gentile.” And they were wrong. Meaning, just because she was not a descendant of Jacob did not mean she wasn’t part of Israel, and she did what any Israelite woman would do. She killed him.

So I think that’s pretty cool. I mean, here we have an example of somebody who is part of the people who have joined themselves unto Yehovah, Isaiah 56, and other verses. Then the other thing is this whole thing about the milk and the water. There’s this idea that milk makes you sleepy, and I actually did some research on this, and the scientists claim that there’s no proof of this, or that maybe it’s psychological, because lots of people do say it makes you sleepy, so maybe for psychological reasons… I suspect it’s all of the lactose, which turns directly into sugar and then drops you and makes you sleepy, especially if you’re keto-adapted, which I think Sisera probably was.

Keith: Oh, my goodness.

Nehemia: One last point you talked about is Judges chapter 5 verse 1. Let me read you what it literally says. In Hebrew the verbs have genders. It says, “Vatashar Devorah,” “And Devorah sang,” “And she sang”, it says “and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day sang.”

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: So it’s actually a singular feminine verb describing Devorah as the singer, and Barak is almost like this afterthought when it came to the song.

Keith: In all seriousness, what I appreciate about this story, and again, I wish we didn’t have the technological challenges that we did, because there’s more things that we could do. And of course, we also have time issues. You’re there, I’m here, you’re in wherever you are with Yael playing the beautiful music with the little hammers that make the sound in the piano. I don’t know if you know that, those are hammers.

Nehemia: That’s right. They are hammers, aren’t they?

Keith: Yes, they are little hammers. And then I’m over here.

Nehemia: Beware of Yael with the hammer.

Keith: Yes, Yael with the hammer. So I think it’s all a part of it. I really do want to ask people to be in prayer for us.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Sometimes you can make assumptions of what… you know, they get the end result of what you do, and they don’t always see what happens behind the scenes. If this one is up, and you’re listening to this one, it took nothing short of a… I don’t even know how our editor is going to do this. But basically, if you’re up and listening to this and this actually ends up being a part of the Prophet Pearls, you should give thanks to our editor, and to our patience, and to the technology as it works, et cetera. So if you don’t have anything else, I want to challenge people to read –

Nehemia: I do have one other thing. I want to talk about verse 20 of chapter 5.

Keith: Oh, you do? Of course.

Nehemia: I’m going to end with that.

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: It says, “Min shamayim nilchamu hakochavim mimesilotam nilchamu im Sisra.” “From heaven the stars from their courses they battled with Sisera.” What does that mean, “The stars battled”? We could probably come with all kinds of creative explanations that maybe there was a comet that fell, and that’s why the Kishon River overflowed with water. I don’t know. But definitely, it was from heaven, it was from God that this happened. That’s what that means.

And I think that’s important - that whenever we have a great victory in our lives, that we remember that it is from Yehovah, that Yehovah is the One who is the source of victory, and it’s not some person that we put in front of us and say, “Oh, she told me that it was Yehovah’s word so I need this person. I can’t do it without the human.” It’s Yehovah Himself, He is the One, and He will make it happen. We don’t need human beings. Trust in Yehovah, not in man, as the Psalm says.

Keith: Amen. So I prayed last week, you pray this week, I’ll pray next week if there’s a show.

Nehemia:Beseder. Yehovah, Avinu shebashamayim, Yehovah, our Father in heaven. We ask that you bring victory from heaven in all that we are doing, in our ministries and in our lives, and in the lives of all those who are listening to this program and calling upon Your name. As is written, “Karov Yehovah lekol kor’av,” Yehovah is close to all who call Him, “lechol asher ikre’u ve’emet,” to all who call him in peace. Yehovah, mobilize the very stars of heaven against Your enemies and against those who are trying to stop us from living in accordance with Your Torah and honoring Your name, Yehovah. May this be Your will. Amen.

Keith: Amen.

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The image at the top of this page is original artwork made specially for this episode of Prophet Pearls by 7-year old Caroline Starnes of West Virginia. In Caroline's own words: "It's a picture of the Israelites coming to Deborah to be judged. That lady, Jael, she, well... put a nail in that man's temples and he died. The Israelites had been bad and they were enslaved. Deborah spoke to Barak and told him to gather ten thousand men with him and fight Sisera, and that Yehovah would deliver the enemies to him. Barak said he would not go unless you go with me, and so Deborah went with him, and they defeated their enemies."

I can’t think of a presidency (USA or other) that operates like a Judge of Israel operated. The Judges were far more tilted toward the military side. Devorah may have judged, but I don’t read the biblical account as saying that she was the Judge. Of course, it doesn’t say that Barak was the Judge either.

However, it is clear to me that Barak’s duties/actions were far more closely aligned with that of a Judge than were Devorah’s. She was a Prophetess, and her counsel/intervention was highly desired by Barak. It is very similar to the story of King Yehoshafat seeking advice from Elisha before going to battle against Moab.

King Saul was ordained(Machiach) leader(King) of Israel, and yet before fighting the Philistines, He summon the Prophet Samuel from the grave for advice. This is the case with Deborah, people forget that Israel did not have a king on earth, it was a theocracy. Elohim is the King of Israel, not Deborah. That’s why Barak is the commander of the army not Deborah.

I am absolutely with Keith and so excited another brother is speaking about the translators agendas being sexist. This has been my field for over 10 years, it’s so eye opening to see how much of the Bible was translated with a patriarchal lens. Deborah was also definitely a leader, with authority and a military leader. This teaching was really cool! Deborah was in charge – woohooo!

Agreed!! Each of us has special skills and abilities, regardless of what’s between our legs. Whether it’s women running the military or a man that very capable of taking care of children and the abode. I don’t recall God putting limits on either gender, excluding pregnancy.

With regard to the role of prophet which is assigned to Deborah. I have assumed that only she was described as a prophet (prophetess) because she was a woman and her authority might have been questioned. I understood the role of a prophet as being a mediator between God and the people, on this basis all the Judges are prophets (good or bad) because they mediate God’s intentions for the people

🙁 I do not AT ALL share Keith’s “enthusiasm” about women in “the military.” Women have NO PLACE in battle (nor does any “Christian” btw)…as Nehemiah pointed out, Devorah was a Judge and a Prophetess… and as the account bears witness, she did no fighting. May we learn to put our weapons down until the Messiah comes leading His army from Heaven. “The battle belongs to YHVH.”

Always wondered ; Was there not some sort of prohibition as to Sisra’s entering Ya’el’s tent ? She was married, yes ? Was it accepted that men could enter a married woman’s tent without a chaperone or is this a wonderful illustration where wisdom, as in Yosef’s example in Potifar’s house, would have been justified of itself ?

Women have a unique and irreplaceable place in the world and the lives of all God’s people. But every so often a preacher will trot out this story to explain why “women are every bit as good as men”. Well, yes, they are every bit as good as men, and every bit as bad as men. But they aren’t every bit the same as men, nor vice versa, and we should all be thankful for that.

Devorah was a prophetess and wide enough and close enough to God to hold court in the city gate and render judgements on matters apparently of dispute among the people. But no matter how many times I read and study this story, I cannot see how she can be called a “Judge” in the same office as that filled by Gideon, Jepthah, and Samson. The text is clear to me. Barak was “the Judge”, Devorah was the prophet bringing advice and rebuke, and Jael (whatever her motive) was politically astute.

I always so enjoy and learn from Torah Pearls and Prophet Pearls. Thank you! Listening to this segment of Prophet Pearls, I noticed that the name Anna was fleetingly mentioned while discussing false prophetesses. Please explain.

YeHoVah bless you Nehemia, Keith, & Jono, and continue to open your (my) eyes to the wonders of Torah.

Not a false prophetess; they were discussing prophetesses in TANAKH, finishing with the false prophetess, and then in passing Nehemia tried throwing a bone to Keith by asking a trivia question concerning prophetess in the Gospels (Anna). I also found this one a bit hard to follow with the breaks and tangents.

Just a thought on men’s and women’s roles in Yah’s kingdom, and their interchangeability: I was taught years ago that when Yah appoints a woman as prophet or leader, it is usually a case where no man has stepped up to accept the responsibility, and Yah is rubbing it in the men’s faces. I see that affirmed in the song of Devorah.

From verse 2(hebrew) we see the plight of the afflictions (pogroms-פרעות) of the land, and from then on the delight in the few who are willing to take up arms against the adversaries. Up to verse 18 we read of the remnant, and not even of all tribes, who were willing to join the resistance. To paraphrase, in the song we see a deplorable national apostasy and pursuit of materialism, with the people disregarding the word of their father Yah. Therefore, in answer to their cries for help, and to shame them, he sends the voice of a mother. Obviously though, the normal way since the expulsion from Eden will be for the Man to take the lead. There will be exceptions, but we need to accept these as Yah’s unspoken direction back to his Torah.

Praise Yehovah, you guys weathered the storm and brought us another nugget. I am trusting the Lord, you will continue to press on. These studies are making the stories and truths of the bible more clear to me. Thank you.

Is Jael one of the “motley crowd?” I never noticed that before. Intriguing…

Shalom Keith and Nehemia; very interesting discussion. I’d say that promotion of women in combat though is problematic. When Yah gives men the ability to bear and nurture children, them women will be able to be considered expendable enough to thrust into combat. Also, wars are typically conducted in rather unsanitary conditions, which is sort of the natural male condition, not as much the female. Obviously there will be exceptions, but we need not legislate general rules on the basis of exceptions.

Keith , you missed the point on Devorah’s leadership. She did not have the command, but was merely the messenger. Yah had the command and leadership. Barack, perhaps in lack of faith, needed the presence of the messenger, perhaps to verify the authenticity of her source. Her presence affirmed her faithfulness as Yah’s messenger to him. The troops followed Barack though, and if Devorah was the commander, it was news to them. (Ju 4:10) This from morfix online dictionary, “to be canalized ; to be channeled, to be redirected”, for “ותעל” (and she went up) may help to indicate it was not Yah’s original plan that she be at the battle.

It took more than mere flowing water, or even mud to disable the chariots. Ju 4:15&16 tell us that Yah worked the victory by the sword, and while muddy conditions probably were instrumental, the water only washed them away, presumably afterward.

Interestingly, the killing of Sisera may have been easier than you guys described. It appears from the poem, that she hit him with the hammer first, perhaps to the point of disfigurement, before putting the peg through his temple.

All in all though, great job guys, considering the technological duress, and the unrehearsed nature of the presentation. IAOEH bless!

really appreciate what you are doing, I just wish it would last more than one hour 🙂

You guys mentioned mo’ed, appointed times. And I have a question on that, and it may be more for Keith actually, but you Nehemiah probably know the Hebrew better (no offense Keith) 🙂

Mo’ed, appointed time, and in Isaiah 14:13 it talks about the mount of congregation. That he will sit on the mount of congregation instead of YHVH. Could be a worldly ruler usurping himself over YHVH, there have indeed been many of them 🙂
Or satan either directly or by proxy, like a letter of intent so to speak. .

I have come across George Wigram’s “Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament” (downloaded it as PDF from Yale), and there mo’ed is written/read as moh-gehd, rendering mount of congregation as “har moh-gehd”. Possibly resulting in what is translated as Armageddon in Revelation? Revelation was written in Hebrew and at a later point in time translated to Greek. Maybe via Aramaic.
In Daniel 7:25 it also speaks of a little horn that will think to change the times and laws of YHVH.

My thought would then be that it is all about who will have authority over the mount of the congregation, the har moh-gehd, the place of appointed times and seasons for the people of YHVH. The battle of har mo-ed.
The Sabbath comes to mind, as does the feasts of YHVH…

My question is then, am I out on a limb? Or could there be a correlation with regards to the har mo-ed/moh-gehd and Armageddon?

Devorah was a judge,and Yahovah spoke through her.I believe Father used Jael to kill sisera and not Barak so Israel could give glory to Yahovah for their deliverance.They could see Yahovah was still with them

Good news Nehemia, new evidence for the name “Yahweh”! I was praying this morning when the cat barged in. I was wondering if she wanted to join me for prayer, when she clearly exclaimed, several times, “Yahw, Yahw, Yahw”, which is of course another abbreviation of the name.

may yahshua bless you my brothers. most belessed and may yahshua continue to bless you. just a small please which would make your efforts so much more enjoyable. please stop the we alone are correct behaviour. the yahweh people, the messianics, the yahshua people please give it some prayer firstly and then thought before entering into these assaults, which border insults. many of these that you are almost attacking, have a relationship with the almighty contary to what is being said and it would follow is your belief. many came to this walk through prayer with very little from input from mankind. people can reach a conclusion as to what to call the messiah formed by the picture of messiah in the scriptures. not everything is established through vowel points, or masters degrees but the master himself. the donkey had no masters, apart from the one on his back and his true master who created him, and he spoke in tongues unless donkies normally speak or communicate in hebrew. so let him/the true master who is the only judge be who he is in this matter, the judge and do just that, as he is the one who sits on the throne and is the only true judge not man. shalom my brothers, lets try and keep it that way.

I happen to like the term “ministry minute”. If I asked a man who had offered to change a tire on my car how long it would take, and he responded, “Just a minute, miss” – well I certainly wouldn’t expect it to take 60 literal seconds. However, at the same time, I wouldn’t expect his gallantry to take an awful long time either. So, I imagine that even Webster would agree that “minute” in the English language can properly be used to mean a rather short period of time.

Why a bee is devorah– long time ago I took a degree in linguistics. One of the first things about communication that we studied was the dance of the bee, how they are able to communicate with each other the location of the flowers with the pollen, based on the work of Karl von Frisch in the late 1950’s. So the bee does carry the davar, the word.

Shalom Chaverim … Another really great teaching! I loved the fact that you brought out “if a prophet tells you to do something that goes against Torah DO NOT DO IT!!! They are a FALSE prophet!!! יהוה Yahoveh does not send prophets to tell you yo do something AGAINST HIS WORD!!!!
Something sorely missing today!!!
Blessings and prayers you two can continue on … especially with all the technical challenges you have of being on the road and traveling the world!

Thanks for pressing through, gents! You were valiant and the teaching was great! I recently saw this terrific 5 minute video on archery and how one gentleman in Denmark has re-discovered the art of ancient archery, which is nothing like what we picture from films. Anyone who is interested in biblical warfare might want to view this You Tube video. I found it fascinating! http://youtu.be/BEG-ly9tQGk